Captain Ross Poldark will come galloping back onto our screens next year - and star Aidan Turner promises that his turbulent romantic life will be steamier than ever as he's torn between his childhood sweetheart Elizabeth and his hot-tempered wife Demelza.

The next series of the hit show, which has already started filming, is based on the third and fourth novels in Winston Graham's Poldark saga, titled Jeremy Poldark and Warleggan. Aidan refuses to give away too many details. 'All I can say at the moment is that love is a very complex thing. It's so deep and there are so many layers.'

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Captain Ross Poldark will come galloping back onto our screens next year

The story begins with Ross facing trial for plundering a wrecked ship of cargo belonging to his arch enemy, the reptilian George Warleggan. The last series ended on a cliffhanger, as soldiers arrested the rebellious Cornish mine owner and dragged him away to jail. If found guilty, Poldark could hang. And look out for newcomer Gabriella Wilde playing Caroline Penvenen, whose appearance causes more romantic unrest. Wilde was born Gabriella Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe, and is a stepsister to Prince Harry's former girlfriend Cressida Bonas.

Thanks to the sky-high viewing figures of series one, the second will be longer at ten episodes instead of eight, and BBC bosses hope the show could run for at least five series. 'We're keen to find a long-running drama that will return year after year and bring in a big audience, our own Downton Abbey,' says a spokesman. 'We believe Poldark fits the bill perfectly. We'd be mad not to give viewers more of what they want!'

Filming for the new series began in September and is expected to continue until April. Here, in the meantime, the cast and crew reveal their secrets from the set in this exclusive adaptation of the new book The World Of Poldark...

Star Aidan Turner promises that his turbulent romantic life will be steamier than ever

Ross - our hero

To Aidan Turner, Captain Ross Poldark is 'the original class warrior'. The man who left England to fight in the American War of Independence returned to find his father dead and his house in ruins, his land barren, his workers destitute and starving, while taxes were sky-high and the local tin mines were closing.

Worst of all, his childhood sweetheart Elizabeth had given up on him and married his cousin Francis. 'When Ross returned to Cornwall, he didn't really know who he was any more,' says Aidan. 'But he's strong - that's what I love about him. He didn't wallow in self-pity or despair. He saw the situation for what it was and dragged himself through it.'

Love is a very complex thing. It's so deep and there are so many layers

He's also no snob, ready to treat anyone with respect if they earn it. On the other hand, he has no time for petty officials and callous laws, and is ready to flout the rigid conventions of society in every way, whether that means rescuing a girl from the gutter and giving her a home, or standing up in court to defy the magistrates and defend a poacher. Aidan says the part's the most fulfilling he's ever played. 'It's fantastic as an actor to have had the chance to play such a wide range in one series. Every step of the way there's been something new.'

But when he took on the role, he'd never seen nor even heard of the 1970s original. 'When I told my parents, who are Irish, that I was going to play Ross they nearly had a fit. The original series was popular in Ireland, I guess because of the farming, the scenery and the horses. It's continually surprising to meet people who are so excited about our adaptation.'

For Aidan, one of the most satisfying parts of filming was the bond he struck up with his horse, Seamus. 'Riding him was one of the highlights,' he says. 'There's an energy when you deliver dialogue on a horse. It's empowering, especially for Ross, who thrives on these kinds of situations, so any time I could get on the horse I would do it. They wouldn't let me gallop along the clifftop, for obvious reasons - but I did as much as possible.

'There were some great moments when Eleanor [Tomlinson, who plays Demelza] and I rode together on Seamus. It can be tricky, but Eleanor was great because she's such a good rider herself. There's something really romantic about it, and it's a lovely image to watch. We'd always whisper stuff and crack each other up, which was fun.'

Make-up designer Jacqueline Fowler had to trim down his chest hair by hand

Director Ed Bazalgette says Aidan has 'an extraordinary relationship with the camera and a physicality that makes him incredibly watchable. There's also a fun, mischievous side to him, and a warmth, he's a man of the people.'

But if you really want to understand the men of Poldark, look at what's on their heads. The villainous George Warleggan wears a stovepipe hat, the incompetent Dr Choake has a fussy little wig, but Ross has that raffish tricorn atop a mess of curls. And that look did not come about by accident. 'When I first met Aidan he had really short hair,' says hair and make-up designer Jacqueline Fowler. Clearly that close-cropped style wouldn't do at all, so she created two looks for him. The first was for the opening scenes, when he went off to war in a soldier's red coat with a ponytail tied back in a black ribbon.

Four years later, after his family had given him up for dead, he returned with that scar on his cheek. 'We wanted to give the impression that he'd just lopped off his pony-tail at the back to get his messy bob look,' says Jacqueline. 'That's the kind of man he was - unaffected and without any vanity.'

Jacqueline's job was to keep Aidan's hair the right length... all of it. 'I had to work on his stubble every day as I wanted it to enhance his cheekbones. It became part of a daily ritual. I also had to trim down his chest hair. I did it all by hand from his stomach up to his neck, all with scissors.'

Their love affair is at the heart of the whole Poldark saga, Aidan believes

Aidan's edgy - and that's fascinating

Eleanor Tomlinson says she's riveted by her co-star's 'edginess', which might be a polite way of saying his sex appeal. It stirs conflicting emotions. 'He makes Ross unpredictable. And that's interesting with your leading man because sometimes you don't know if you hate him, and that for me is fascinating.'

Their love affair is at the heart of the whole Poldark saga, Aidan believes, but it is not a fixed, unmoving love. 'It's ever-changing,' he explains. 'The first time he meets her, he thinks she's a boy. he helps her out on a spontaneous whim - she has it tough and has this rebellious streak, and he feels he can make her life better. And then the relationship gains momentum into something else, but I don't think either of them saw it coming.'

As the two get to know each other, something more than friendship begins to kindle. 'Demelza has a positive energy,' Aidan adds. 'She's fun and cheeky, and I think he recognises that outsider thing. She's the opposite of Elizabeth and rough around the edges, but there's a real honesty to Demelza that Ross appreciates. In so much of his life he sees people who aren't honest, who put on a facade and try to be something they're not. With Demelza, she is what she is and she doesn't apologise for it. I think that's attractive to Ross.'

Cornwall... in Wiltshire!

Though Poldark is set in Cornwall, many of the street scenes were filmed in Wiltshire, as production designer Catrin Meredydd explains. 'The town of Corsham is in a conservation area where lots of buildings haven't changed for centuries. Paintings of Truro in the 1780s compare to Corsham now, but Truro today doesn't look anything like that.

'We tried to find a Cornish location but shooting there in the summer, in the middle of a town, was impossible. Corsham had the locations we needed - a pub, a haberdasher's, a central area for the market and a steeple similar to Truro's. The townspeople allowed us to close the roads and dress the fronts of their shops and houses.'

Nampara, Ross's home, was in Cornwall, but not on the coast because so many palm trees have grown that weren't there in Napoleonic times. The crew found a house on Bodmin Moor (above) that had many of its original features, including the flagstone back yard. Catrin used its layout as the starting point for the indoor set of Nampara, but made it bigger, with more windows and - since so much action takes place there - a much larger kitchen.

Adapted from The World Of Poldark by Emma Marriott, published by Pan Macmillan, £20. Offer price £14 (30% discount) until 20 November. Order at mailbookshop.co.uk, p&p free.

Though Poldark is set in Cornwall, many of the street scenes were filmed in Wiltshire

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So how do they make Poldark so sexy? From keeping Aidan Turner's chest hair the right length to Demelza's underwear problems, a fascinating new book reveals what really goes on backstage